Runaway teen won‘t be billed for search

Published : 2012-11-21 15:56
Updated : 2012-11-21 15:56

The cost of a police search for a Clark, N.J., teen who faked her own kidnapping will not be billed to her family, the town’s mayor said.

Kara Alongi, 16, disappeared Sept. 30 after asking friends on her Twitter account to phone 911 because someone was in her house, leading to thousands of return messages and a temporary position as one of the most talked-about topics on the Internet. After taking a taxi to a train station and then leaving town, she was found two days later, unharmed and not kidnapped, at a Burger King on the New Jersey Turnpike and ready to go home, the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger said.

“We‘re not going to sit there and pass the costs along. Obviously this young lady had some things going on. We’re just happy she was returned to her family and hope she makes some better choices in the future,” said Mayor Sal Bonaccorso, adding the amount, which included overtime pay for police officers, was not “exorbitant.” (UPI)